Maha asks RITES to conduct feasibility study on 2nd Metro Line

Maharashtra Government has asked a PSU engineering consultancy company, RITES to conduct the techno-economic

Mumbai: Maharashtra Government has asked a PSU engineering consultancy company, RITES to conduct the techno-economic feasibility study on the changes in the proposed 2nd Metro line project in Mumbai.

“A new detail project report for Dahisar-Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd (2nd line) is being prepared. There will be no hurdle of environmental permission to Charkop depot as it will get shifted to Dahisar,” Chavan said while replying to a calling attention motion raised by MLAs from Mumbai in the Legislative Assembly today.

Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES Ltd) is a Government of India enterprise under the aegis of Indian Railways.

However, the changes are likely to delay the project which is already behind schedule by five years in the absence of various permissions.

“There is a demand that the second line metro be underground,” Chavan said.

The earth-breaking ceremony for Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd elevated metro rail was held in 2009 by then President Pratibha Patil, but the work never took off.

The elevated alignment with stations along Link Road and S V road are being opposed.

Overhead wires and proximity to Juhu airport were the major hurdles besides environmental permissions.

The Line 1 Mumbai Metro which connects Versova, Andheri in the western suburbs to Ghatkopar in the eastern suburbs was thrown open to public recently.

The Metro Line 2 was originally planned to be 40 km long from Colaba to Charkop, with Colaba to Mahalaxmi as underground. However, the underground stretch that was extended in the plan up to Bandra (around 20 km) was changed to Charkop-Bandra-Mankhurd (about 35 km), all elevated, primarily due to cost considerations.